"It was a long journey, but it was worth every mile," said Bandon captain Ruth Kingston after her team returned home to Cork having produced the result of the first round of the Sharwoods Irish Senior Cup on Saturday, beating Ards 4-1 on penalty strokes following a 0-0 draw.

Bandon goalkeeper Amalia Scannell, who made one superb save in the shoot-out, and former Irish under-18 midfielder Eimear Harte, were two of the Munster side's outstanding players in a closely fought-tie.

"We're a bit battered and bruised after the game, but we don't feel a thing," said Kingston. "We won most of the 50-50 tackles, probably because we wanted it more."

Bandon's reward is a home tie against Trinity in the second round, while UCD, who beat Genesis 3-0 on Saturday, meet Knock, one of the form teams in Ulster this season.

Ballymena, 3-0 winners against Railway Union in their first ever Irish Cup tie, have been drawn away to Cork's Church of Ireland, for whom Clare Hickey scored the decisive goal against Waterford on Saturday.

In the Computershare Leinster League, meanwhile, Pembroke Wanderers made it five wins out of five with two excellent results over the weekend - a 4-0 win over Old Alexandra on Saturday followed by a 3-0 victory against UCD at Belfield yesterday.

Pembroke goalkeeper Mary Goode has yet to concede a goal in the league this season - having already come up against Loreto, Alexandra and UCD, three of division one's top teams - and her team is now just one of three unbeaten sides in the division, along with Hermes and Genesis.

A 4-0 win over Corinthian, in which E J Walsh (ex-UCC) scored her first division one goal, maintained Hermes' perfect start to the season while Loreto scored eight without reply - Emma Walkintop scored with a hat-trick - against bottom cub Glenanne yesterday.